Abreu Fuels Phillies' Surge

MIKE BERARDINO ON BASEBALL

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Underrated Outfielder Is Making Bid For 30 Home Runs, 30 Stolen Bases.

September 23, 2001|MIKE BERARDINO ON BASEBALL

The Philadelphia Phillies were supposed to have faded by now. Instead, they remain near the top of the National League East, nipping at the heels of the aging Atlanta Braves.

A big reason for that is Bobby Abreu.

Entering the final two weeks of the season, just three players -- all right fielders -- had a shot at 30-homer, 30-stolen base seasons. Expos star Vladimir Guerrero had already made it into the 30/30 club. Raul Mondesi of the Blue Jays was at 26 homers and 27 steals.

Abreu, who needed three homers to go with his 36 stolen bases, was the other, trying to become the first player in franchise history to accomplish that rare feat.

No Phillies hitter has won the National League batting crown since Richie Ashburn in 1958. But someday Abreu could be the man to end that drought.

This could have been the year, but he got off to a miserable start. He was hitting just .230 on May 24 with seven homers and 24 RBI. That's when he took off.

"I still think he's one of most underrated players in the game," one major league scout said. "I've got him in our grading system as a perennial All-Star. That's the type of player he is. He's more consistent as a right fielder than Guerrero. He doesn't have quite the power in his arm, but he's more accurate and he covers a lot of ground.

"He can run, steal bases, he's got power. I don't think people in baseball or the media realize how good this guy is. Most guys don't even mention him. There's no flair about him. There are no Nike or milk or Wheaties commercials. He just goes out and plays. He hits over .300 every year, drives in his 100 runs. I love the guy."

Best of all, at 27, Abreu is just coming into his prime. He entered the year with a .313 career batting average, helped by a career-best .335 in 1999.

Abreu is also on track to become the sixth Phillies player since 1900 to bat .300 for four consecutive seasons. The others were Dick Allen (1964-67), Richie Ashburn (1953-56), Spud Davis and Chuck Klein (1930-33) and Elmer Flick (1898-1901).

Phillies batting coach Richie Hebner sees the potential for Abreu's numbers to go much higher. Hebner even compares Abreu to one of his former teammates, another left-handed hitting outfielder who won the NL batting title in 1982.

"Al Oliver, that's who [Abreu] reminds me of," Hebner said. "Al could use the whole field. Al could take the 2-0, 3-1 pitch into the cheap seats. He didn't really try to hit home runs, but if he got a pitch he could drive, he'd drive it. This guy is the same way."

It's hard to believe the Astros left Abreu unprotected in the expansion draft after the '97 season. It's even more incredible to consider the Devil Rays had Abreu in their possession for a few hours before dealing him to the Phillies for shortstop Kevin Stocker. Straight up.

Stocker retired in the spring after eight mediocre seasons. Abreu is just getting warmed up.

"Everybody looks up to him, everybody respects him," Hebner said. "He plays hard, runs everything out. He excels in all phases of the game. He can go long ball. He can run, throw, play defense. And he's a fun guy to be around, too."

BAD CALL

Ego clearly got in the way last week of the Rockies' sensible offer to move a four-game series from Montreal to Denver.

Rockies owner Jerry McMorris made the proposal, in part due to fear of traveling out of the country. The Rockies would have covered all the Expos' travel costs (plane, hotel, meals, etc.) and shared half of the gate receipts with the visitors. The remainder would have gone to various relief funds in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Faced with a mountain of logic, the Expos rejected the proposal.

"What about our fans?" Expos manager Jeff Torborg said. "We have our fans to consider. They are talking about the integrity of the season, and we have a schedule."

Integrity of the season? Both clubs are in last place. Besides, the Mets and Pirates juggled their home-and-home series in the interest of safety.

Fans? As one Rockies official said: "What fans? When we heard that, we were like, You've got to be kidding.' I guess they'd rather play in front of 1,000 people in Montreal than 45,000 at our place."

Instead of doing something meaningful for the victims' families, the Expos chose to play four games at their mausoleum that figured to draw a combined 15,000, at most. Announced attendance at Thursday's series opener: 3,037.

In Denver the series could have drawn between 160,000 and 180,000.

WANDERING MINDS

In the first few days of baseball's return, it was clear many players' minds were elsewhere.

Twins catcher A.J. Pierzynski, clutching a strikeout pitch from Brad Radke, tried to leave the field after the second out. Pirates first baseman Kevin Young, also losing track of the outs, flipped a live ball to an umpire. Several players were slow to take first base on ball four, having lost track of the count. Several umpires got tripped up as well.